Currently, there is substantial research activity directed toward the discovery and optimization of materials for a wide range of applications. Although the chemistry of many materials, including polymers and polymerization reactions has been extensively studied, nonetheless, it is rarely possible to predict a priori the physical or chemical properties a particular material will possess or the precise composition and architecture that will result from any particular synthesis scheme. Thus, characterization or testing techniques to determine such properties are an essential part of the discovery process.
Combinatorial materials science refers generally to methods for synthesizing a collection of chemically diverse materials and to methods for rapidly testing or screening this collection of materials for desirable performance characteristics and properties. Combinatorial chemistry approaches have greatly improved the efficiency of discovery of useful materials. For example, material scientists have developed and applied combinatorial chemistry approaches to discover a variety of novel materials, including for example, high temperature superconductors, magnetoresistors, phosphors and catalysts. See, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,776,359 to Schultz et al. In comparison to traditional materials science research, combinatorial materials research can effectively evaluate much larger numbers of diverse compounds in a much shorter period of time. Although such high-throughput synthesis and screening methodologies are conceptually promising, substantial technical challenges exist for application thereof to specific research and commercial goals.
The characterization or testing of polymers or other materials using combinatorial methods has only recently become known. Examples of such technology are disclosed, for example, in commonly owned U.S. Pat. No. 6,182,499 (McFarland et al); U.S. Pat. No. 6,175,409 B1 (Nielsen et al); U.S. Pat. No. 6,157,449 (Hajduk et al); U.S. Pat. No. 6,151,123 (Nielsen); U.S. Pat. No. 6,034,775 (McFarland et al); U.S. Pat. No. 5,959,297 (Weinberg et al), all of which are hereby expressly incorporated by reference herein. However, as combinatorial materials science becomes more accepted, a need exists to rapidly test or characterize a wider variety of properties. The above-cited references do not disclose every possible test that might be performed in the research and development of materials for a specific desired application.
For example, a nee exists for combinatorial methods and apparatuses for synthesizing or otherwise providing polymers and other materials followed by screening of those materials in an array format for physical or mechanical characteristics such as surface tension, interfacial tension and the like. Conventional instruments and methods for synthesis and screening of the materials for mechanical properties are generally inadequate to handle the types and numbers of samples. For example, conventional instruments and other apparatuses lack the ability to screen mechanical properties of several materials in rapid succession, in parallel, on a single substrate or a combination thereof. Thus, challenges are presented for creating systems and methods that can quickly process and test (either in parallel or in serial succession) mechanical properties of many materials. Additionally, combinatorial or high-throughput methods that create material samples must be processed at a similar rate and conventional instruments are inadequate for forming, processing or otherwise treating materials so that the materials are in appropriate condition for high throughput screening of mechanical properties. This invention meets these challenges and the inadequacies of the prior art for certain properties of materials.